A Navy official has confirmed videos of unidentified flying objects as real, however the footage was not authorised to be released to be public.
Spokesman for the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Warfare, Joseph Gradisher told TIME the three widely-shared footage captured “Unidentified Aerial Phenomena”.
Gradisher told also confirmed the information to The Black Vault, a website dedicated to declassified government documents in the United States.
“The Navy designates the objects contained in these videos as unidentified aerial phenomena,” Gradisher said.
“The reason why I’m talking about it is to drive home the seriousness of this issue,” Gradisher says. “The more I talk, the more our aviators and all services are more willing to come forward.”
The spokesman hopes conversation sparked will lead to UAP’s being “destigmatised”.
The viral footage caused a sensation online after The Washington Post and The New York Times reported on three videos obtained and released by the To The Stars Academy Of Arts And Science.
In one video, two navy pilots are recorded tracking an unidentified object flying off the East Coast in 2015.
“Wow! What is that, man? Look at that flying!” one of the pilots can be heard saying.
Former military intelligence official Luis Elizondo said there is more information the public does not have access to.
“My personal belief is that there is very compelling evidence that we may not be alone,” Elizondo, who is now part of the TTS Academy, said to CNN in 2017.
To the Stars Academy of Arts and Science is a self-described “public benefit corporation: co-founded by vocalist and guitarist for rock band, Blink-182, Tom Delonge.
